Rafael Correa

Ecuador and China will form a joint venture to develop an oil bloc in the South American country that has proven reserves of 120 million barrels of crude, an Ecuadoran official said Wednesday. Germanico Pinto, the minister of non-renewable natural resources, announced the creation of a joint venture between Ecuador's state-owned Petroecuador and China's Sinopec International Petroleum at a meeting in Quito with about 20 Chineses business representatives, said a statement. Pinto said the new company will seek an investment of one billion dollars to "explore and exploit" Bloc 42 in the eastern part of the Andean country. Petroecuador was to hold a 60 ... Read Full Story

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress will probably approve a short extension of trade benefits for Ecuador that expire next month despite concerns about actions that country has taken, a senior senator said on Tuesday. "Ecuador is sticky. It's difficult. It's not easy ... Ecuador is not helping itself. It's a word to the wise. If they want to continue, a lot of that is in their hands too," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said. The comment came one day after U.S. trade officials expressed hope for continued engagement with Ecuador. Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa has rattled investors by hiking taxes, defaulting on ... Read Full Story

LONDON (Reuters) - Germany, Spain and France have expressed interest in a pioneering Ecuadorean plan not to pump oil from under a tropical forest in return for international compensation, Ecuadorean officials said on Tuesday. Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, on a London visit, called for support for the Yasuni initiative, under which Ecuador would leave 850 million barrels of oil, worth $6 billion, underground as a contribution to countering climate change. In return for not exploiting the oil in the environmentally rich area, the OPEC-member country is looking to other countries to pay it $350 million a year. "We are proposing to the world that ... Read Full Story

Ecuador's president is in London this week to promote a unique proposal: pay his country $3 billion not to drill for oil in a pristine Amazon reserve. Germany and Spain have expressed interest in President Rafael Correa's idea, which environmentalists say could set a precedent in the fight against global warming by lowering the high cost to poor countries of going green. "This is the first time the government of a major oil-producing country has voluntarily offered to forego lucrative oil extraction in order to help combat climate change," said Dr. Matt Finer, staff scientist for Save America's Forests and author of a study ... Read Full Story

Ecuador's president is in London this week to promote a unique proposal: pay his country $3 billion not to drill for oil in a pristine Amazon reserve. Germany and Spain have expressed interest in President Rafael Correa's idea, which environmentalists say could set a precedent in the fight against global warming by lowering the high cost to poor countries of going green. "This is the first time the government of a major oil-producing country has voluntarily offered to forego lucrative oil extraction in order to help combat climate change," said Dr. Matt Finer, staff scientist for Save America's Forests and author of a study ... Read Full Story